Who we are

Frank Sonneville

Investor in farmland in Bulgaria and Romania since 2010

Marijke Coucke

Master in Economics at the University of Ghent (Belgium)

Romanian Team

A team of Romanian jurists and notaries assisting us in the land purchases

What we do

Mission

Acquire and co-manage farmland in order to achieve a competitive, sustainable and safe financial performance for our investors. The land will only be offered after obtainment of an official cadaster registration number (CF).

Philosophy

Identify farmland investment opportunities in Romania having a long-term view.

Personal Assistance

If desired, assisting you in the administration process of establishing a local company in Romania.
Offering you the farmland which is already in the end phase of notary registration.

What we offer

Legal expertise via our highly qualified Romanian jurist and reliable notary who are checking the authenticity of property documents thoroughly.

High quality farmland in terms of soil, climate conditions and potential land value appreciation which are already in the end phase of notary registration.

An option to participate as a shareholder in bigger farmland investment projects by bringing several investors together.

Company set-up guidance : Helping you (if desired) with the administration to set up a company in Romania.

Local network of Romanians who supply us the land directly from local farmers at a fair market price.

An investment opportunity for investors without expertise in agriculture and farming who wish to benefit from farmland appreciation and wish to obtain a yearly rent.

Why Farmland

“Buy land, they don’t make it anymore” Mark Twain (1835-1910)

“Our challenge is not only to ensure adequate food for 963 million hungry people in the world, but also to feed 9 billion people in 2050.

For this we need to double the world food production with the financial resources required for investment in agriculture.”

Jacques Diouf, General Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Macro drivers leading to acceleration of agricultural demand (see graph).

Arable land per person is falling (see graph).

Loss of arable land is 10 times faster than it’s being replaced;
Yield per hectare has increased by 2,1% per year over the past 40 years but the pace of those gains is slowing. Since 2000, the increase in yields per hectare has averaged less than 1% per year.

Farmland provides a high level of capital security, unlikely to depreciate in value as historical data show.

Farmland is an effective inflation hedge.

Farmland investment delivers high total returns through a combination of rental income and appreciation in the value of the asset.

Farmland price developments (see graph).

About Romania

size : 238.391 square kilometers
parliamentary democracy, member of the European Union since 2007
population (2016) : 21.599.736
gross national product in 2013 : USD 367.5 billion
average wage of about 500 Euro/month
currency : Lei (RON). 1 Euro = about 4,55 Lei
continental climate
precipitation : from 600 mm in the east to lower than 500 mm in the south and coastal area. From 1000 to 1500 mm in the mountainous areas (see graph)
average sunshine hours (see graph)
Romania – Soil Map (see map)
Romania – Land Capability (see map)

Why Romania

Romania used to be the granary of Europe before the Communist period. The country has the fertile black soil (chernozem and phaeozem) and the climate to claim this reputation again.
A report of the Dutch bank Rabobank regarding the food and agribusiness sector mentions that Eastern Europe has the most chance to develop fast in the next 5 to 10 years as there are still a lot of possibilities to increase the yields per hectare
The European Union subsidy system for harvested crops is guaranteeing a good rent price
Despite Romania being a member of the European Union, the farmland prices are still only a fraction of the land prices in Western Europe. This is due the fact that a lot of land is still not exploited well due to a lack of funds.
A low income tax (16% on profit) and for a Micro Enterprise maximum 3% on the turnover